Crunch Time

Blackstar Dept. 10 Valve Pedals

- By Chris Gill

OVER THE LAST few decades quite a few overdrive and distortion pedals incorporating a 12AX7/ECC83 preamp tube in their circuits have hit the market that promise to deliver true tube tone. The overall result, however, is usually “close but no cigar” as many of these pedals drive the tubes at low voltages. It’s similar to using regular gas in a finely tuned, high-horsepower sports car — you will still get where you’re going, but the experience isn’t as responsive, dynamic and powerful as it could be. While these pedals often offer the warmth and satisfying crunch of tubes, the sound can be overly compressed and one-dimensional. On the other hand, Blackstar’s new Dept. 10 valve pedals, which the company describes as “the world’s most advanced valve pedals,” all feature an ECC83 triode tube-driven at more than 200 volts to provide the headroom, dynamics, enhanced harmonics and organic saturation of a genuine tube amp. The Dept. 10 Boost is the simplest of the bunch, providing boost and EQ functions. The Dept. 10 Dual Drive and Dual Distortion pedals provide two channels each of overdrive and distortion, respectively, as well as various features that deliver “amp in a box” performance.